One of the greatest fears of most taxpayers is the idea that the Internal Revenue Service might audit them. I have prepared taxes for well over 20 years, and one of the most common requests is: “Please keep me from getting audited.” The preparer does not control that. The IRS screens returns and uses an internal computer program to determine who may or may not be audited. The first thing that will happen is the taxpayer will receive a letter saying that their tax return for a certain year is … [Read more...] about Anatomy of an Audit
A Simple Guide to Getting People Hooked
Every time you hear how many gazillions Facebook, or Apple, or Google is worth, I know what you’re thinking. Why not me? The only thing stopping you is that you need to invent The Next Big Thing. The challenge is to figure out what The Next Big Thing is. To do that, you have to figure out what people want badly enough that they’ll pay good money to make it The Next Big Thing, right? Not necessarily. What if you created something no one particularly wanted because it doesn’t exist yet, but … [Read more...] about A Simple Guide to Getting People Hooked
TGen Receives Patent for Test to Detect H1N1 Flu Strain
“When H1N1 influenza spread from Mexico in 2009, we didn’t know how severe it was going to be,” recalled Professor Paul Keim of Northern Arizona University. “There was great fear it might cause a big increase in flu deaths over a more typical flu outbreak – because it was a new flu strain, no one had immunity to it.” The so-called “swine flu” outbreak five years ago was pronounced a pandemic and public health emergency by the World Health Organization. Cases began appearing in late … [Read more...] about TGen Receives Patent for Test to Detect H1N1 Flu Strain
Southside Transforming Into Flagstaff’s Eclectic Urban Hot Zone
New businesses and renovations have San Francisco Street’s Southside energized with a chic urban revival buzz. “It’s a pretty exciting part of town,” said Kevin Heinonen, co-owner, with cousin Scott Heinonen, of The Tourist Home Urban Market. “It’s coming alive right now. We made a commitment in 2009 to Southside,” Kevin Heinonen added, noting that commitment has taken shape in three tangible places. Since 2009, the Heinonens opened Tinder Box, the Annex and now The Tourist Home Urban … [Read more...] about Southside Transforming Into Flagstaff’s Eclectic Urban Hot Zone
Con Artists Preying on Emotions to Take Your Money
Ever wonder how people get suckered into a scam or fall under the spell of a promise they normally might rule out as highly unlikely? It is the ether. “Ether is a condition that the master closer puts you in by hitting your fear, greed and urgency buttons,” explains “The Con Artist’s Playbook” from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Here’s how the con goes down. You are contacted by a pro adept at finding your “emotional triggers,” the hot buttons that will overrule … [Read more...] about Con Artists Preying on Emotions to Take Your Money
26th Annual ATHENA Awards & 2015 Meeting
Feb 6, 2015, 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM MST … [Read more...] about 26th Annual ATHENA Awards & 2015 Meeting
Help Comes Up the Hill for Holiday Hungry
Many of the holiday tables of those most in need in Northern Arizona will have benefited from regular deliveries up the hill from Phoenix of staple food items in semi trucks from St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance. The destination for trucks is the Flagstaff Family Food Center warehouse on East Huntington Drive. “From Havasu across through Snowflake, we handle everything north of that,” said Dan Rogers, who has been a driver for 14 years, including 17 months with SMFBA. “Each driver makes four … [Read more...] about Help Comes Up the Hill for Holiday Hungry
Runners Gripping Icy Roads with Kahtoola’s Latest Innovation
The red-hot item on this year’s winter runner’s Christmas list may well be Kahtoola’s NANOspikes. The Flagstaff company had already established MICROspikes as a winter option for trail runners to slip over their shoes when founder Danny Giovale and his team went to work on developing a traction option for road runners back in 2011. The reasons to doing this were obvious from a business perspective. There are far more road runners than trail runners, and they inhabit a much more diverse … [Read more...] about Runners Gripping Icy Roads with Kahtoola’s Latest Innovation
North Leupp Family Farms Exploring Blue Cornmeal Production
North Leupp Family Farm, located less than an hour drive northeast of Flagstaff, is positioning itself to be a supplier of milled blue corn to Northern Arizona businesses. The 100-acre farm has been awarded a USDA Value Added Producer grant that would fund a feasibility study and development of a business plan for producing blue cornmeal from Navajo blue corn (a traditional crop also used in Diné (Navajo) ceremonies. But first, matching funds must be raised as part of the grant’s … [Read more...] about North Leupp Family Farms Exploring Blue Cornmeal Production
Housing For Older Persons Communities Change Age Limits
Based on an Arizona court decision, Arizona “housing for older persons” communities must consider Fair Housing issues when enforcing their residency restrictions. In Canady v. Prescott Canyon Homeowners Association, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that “housing for older persons” community associations must waive their minimum age restriction and allow disabled individuals, regardless of their age, to reside in the community with persons who meet the age restriction. Age-restricted … [Read more...] about Housing For Older Persons Communities Change Age Limits